Domain Registration Related News
Key Internet Domain Up for Grabs
October 2004
To almost anyone who has a passing familiarity
with computers, the term "dot-com" instantly
evokes the Internet and everything associated with
the online world.
That is not quite the case for "dot-net." Regarded
by most ordinary Internet users as ".com's"
less-attractive cousin, ".net" is nevertheless the
world's fourth-largest Internet domain and a key
conduit for massive amounts of Internet traffic.
This month, the Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers, the group that oversees the
Internet's global addressing system, will begin
deciding what company will run it.
The stakes are high, and so is the responsibility:
The winner will take in about $30 million a year,
but if the domain were to fail, huge swaths of
online real estate -- including Web sites like
Amazon.com and e-mail networks like those operated
by Comcast and Earthlink -- could go dark.
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